Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2701 to 2725 of 4884 results

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... with that friend, the battle over chemical dependency can be won. Using this as a model for the Church, can you see what the Church is for, what Christ intended it to be? It is supposed to be sort of a “Sinner’s Anonymous”; not a group of perfect people, people who have arrived, but rather people who have a Friend, who are willing to abide with that Friend, and to abide with one another. Jesus said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than ...

2702. The War of Malchus’ Ear

John 18:1-11

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... cheek, turn the other also...” (Matthew 5:38-39) What are we going to do with Jesus’ words? There have been many attempts to try to come to come terms with them over the centuries. Some have said that His words were really “counsels of perfection,” and not designed for ordinary mortals like most of us. Perhaps they were O.K. for the specially pious: monks, nuns, etc., but we ordinary folks are not bound by them. However, I cannot recall Jesus saying that His commandments were meant for an elite ...

2703. Who Counted the Fish?

John 21:1-14, John 21:15-25

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... (as though the resurrection itself were not supernatural enough,) and I have no wish to diminish the miraculous nature of what happened; but, on the other hand, I do not wish to see a miracle here when there is no need to do so. The story makes perfect sense once one understands what is going on. Jesus was probably saying, “Look, fellows, there are plenty of fish on the other side. Cast your nets over there and you will not be disappointed!” They did as they were told and, lo and behold, there was a ...

2704. A Terrorist among the Twelve

Luke 6:12-16

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... by Rome, in a violent demonstration of overwhelming power. Its leaders were nailed on crosses along the roadside. As Jesus walked among the hills of Galilee, as a young boy, He saw those crosses, (2000 of them by one reckoning), and so knew perfectly well what He was talking about when He spoke to his followers about taking up a cross to follow Him. Although the revolt was crushed, the Zealots went underground, and their frustrated members became ever increasingly more violent. When the Temple fell in ...

2705. Philip the First

John 1:43-51

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... not only “Where are we to get the money?” but also “Where can we find a kosher deli here in this pagan Gentile area on ‘the other side’ of the Sea of Galilee?” John says that Jesus put this question to Philip only to test him, for Jesus knew perfectly well what He would do. Perhaps. But Philip did not, and said, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” (John 6:7) In other words, he saw the problem. He did not yet see the solution. Now, I don’t ...

2706. Little Jimmy

Mark 3:13-19

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... or heal the sick, or hit homeruns, or write soul-stirring novels! These are hands which may someday change the course of human destiny!” To which Lucy replies: “They’ve got jelly on them!” Well, of course they do! We all have jelly on our hands. Nobody’s perfect. Everybody’s got a handicap, an imperfection of one kind or another. But we are called to be God’s children, here and now. There is an old saying: “I am only one; but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And what ...

2707. Jesus and the Baptists

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... ’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. It was meant for those who were sorry for their sins and wished to leave them behind. But down through the ages, Christians have always insisted that Jesus was sinless..that is, He is the One who perfectly performed the will of God. Why was Jesus baptized? What did the Baptism of Jesus mean? Barclay suggests four things: For Jesus, it was: The moment of Decision, Identification, Approval, and Equipment. It meant DECISION. For 30 years (roughly) Jesus had stayed in ...

2708. Wining and Dining with Jesus

Mark 2:18-22

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... 23:2) He said, in effect, “Don’t do as they do, do as they say.” They had a great idea: the commandments of God must be put into practice in one’s daily life. Nothing wrong with that. The problem is: they thought that they had done it perfectly! And they couldn’t stop criticizing others who, in their opinion, fell short. Mark’s Gospel tells us that one of the first people to respond to Jesus’ preaching about the Kingdom was a man named Levi. Now, Levi’s job was that of tax collector...not a ...

2709. Family Reunion

Mark 3:31-35

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... They say that what the Gospels call “brothers and sisters” were really Jesus’ half-brothers and sisters, children of Joseph by a previous marriage, or “cousins”.... although there is not a shred of Biblical evidence for either. Most Protestants are perfectly comfortable believing that they were really blood brothers and sisters of Jesus - and that one of them: James was the first bishop of the Church in Jerusalem. We believe that the notion of Mary’s “perpetual virginity” is a late addition ...

2710. Afraid of Sanity

Mark 5:1-20

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... unclean spirit, who lived among the tombs.”(v.2) That is an accurate detail, for the tombs were an accustomed haunt of evil spirits, according to ancient belief. “No one could bind him any more, even with a chain.” (vs. 3-4) What more perfect picture of a futile attempt to deal with a social problem by force? Force rarely accomplishes anything. It certainly reflects a popular but misguided method of dealing with those suffering from mental and nervous illness over the years. It hasn’t been too many ...

2711. The Laying on of Hands

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... words: “God will have to multiply our shortage of faith by some unknown quantity of infinity to get some people to believe that Jesus ever did anything for the dead. It is hard enough for them to swallow what he said; but to accept the possibility that a perfect Stranger could resuscitate dead bodies is going a little far..... We ship all our corpses to the morgue, and we would send for the men in little white coats if we heard that someone had sent for the minister for one last try before it was too late ...

2712. Only a Carpenter

Mark 6:1-6

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... an army!” I. JESUS HAD THE SAME PROBLEM. Those who had known Him as a boy could not believe that He could be the Messiah. The story about Jesus’ rejection at the hands of His own townspeople gives us a disturbing reminder that it is perfectly possible to have something standing right there before you, and not recognize it or its importance. Remember the often told story of the first casting session of Fred Astaire, and the comment written by the director at the time: “Can’t act; can’t sing; dances ...

2713. A Sign for a Sign

Mark 8:11-13

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... 16 where Jesus tells the disciples that their task is to take the Good News into all the world? I have a hunch that it is so. The “seven baskets full” indicates abundance. The number seven was special in ancient times - the perfect number. The LAYMAN’S BIBLE COMMENTARY suggests that “the number seven may also suggest the seventy nations of the Gentiles.” (Richmond, Virginia: John Knox Press, 1962, Vol. 17, p.89) More interestingly, the “broken pieces left over” indicates that this supply of ...

2714. Men Like Trees Walking

Mark 8:22-26

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... fourth, the fifth, and innumerable blessings, but when I got to the second one, I saw so many ornery people who claimed that they had received it, I passed that one by.” But for Wesley, the “second blessing,” the “second touch” of God’s grace was Perfect Love. The ability to see people not as things, but as persons, and to love them as Christ has first loved us. I once read somewhere that each of us, as Christians, needs two conversions: The first from the world to Christ; and he second, from ...

2715. Radical Surgery

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... confronted with a passage of Scripture difficult to interpret, he had a rule: “Compare Scripture with Scripture.” So this week when I got bogged down wondering what on earth I was going to say about this difficult passage, it occurred to me that our Lord gave us a perfect parable to help us understand it: the story of a treasure hid in a field. “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up, then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that ...

2716. Childish or Child-like?

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... (God forbid) in the Church! However, we are not called by Jesus to be childish, but child-like. III. “WHOEVER DOES NOT RECEIVE THE KINGDOM OF GOD LIKE A CHILD SHALL NOT ENTER IT.” (Mark 10:15) In childhood Jesus found the perfect analogy for membership in the Kingdom. Not in childishness, but child-likeness. A good many sermons have been preached about this young lad, declaring that what Jesus wanted people to emulate was the supposed “innocence” of childhood. Every parent (and grandparent) knows ...

2717. Are We Able?

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... ? All things considered, I suppose most of us would answer, “No.” To which Jesus might well reply, “If not, why not? Remember...the power behind you is greater than the problems before you.” With His help perhaps we can dare to say: “Yes! We are able! We are not perfect, but we’re going to give it our best shot. With Your help we can become able. If you could still use those two clowns who hid behind their mother’s apron strings to ask You for a favor, You might even be able to use us! And who ...

2718. What Do You Want Me to Do for You?

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has the light shined.” (Isaiah 9:1a-2) You see, there is more than one way of being blind. It is entirely possible to have both of our eyes functioning perfectly, and still not see what God is doing in the world. So, Mark included this touching story, I think, not only to proclaim Jesus as the wonder-worker who would give sight to the blind, but also to proclaim Him as the Light of the World. In the words of ...

2719. The Lord Has Need

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... in ME!” That changes things a bit. Most of us are quite willing to have God’s will be done - as long as it does not cost us anything. In George Eliot’s novel MIDDLEMARCH, a character named Dorothea sums up her faith: “That by desiring what is perfectly good even when we don’t quite know what it is and cannot do what we would, we are part of the divine power against evil - widening the skirts of light and making the struggle with darkness narrower.” Is that not the task of every Christian within ...

2720. Not the Seasons for Figs

Mark 11:12-19

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... . But this omitted Gospel says that Joseph wasn’t very good at the carpenter’s trade. He kept making things too long, or too short, or too narrow, or too wide. Not to worry. No problem. Jesus stretched forth His hand and presto! everything fit perfectly. (THE APOCRYPHAL NEW TESTAMENT published in 1901 by David McKay, publisher, Philadelphia.) I’d like to have somebody like that around during the rare moments when I find myself with hammer and saw and wood in my hands. It would surely come in handy ...

2721. God’s Greatest Gamble

Mark 12:1-12

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... might have done...but what God did. The second stage in the story tells us that the rightful owner of the vineyard took an initiative of “grace.” It is not the normal response to rebellion, nor the action of a wronged property owner. It is, however, a perfect description of what God did in response to humanity’s downward slide of disobedience which began in the Garden of Eden and continues to this day. “For God so loved the world, that he sent His only Son....” (John 3:16) The third act shows the ...

2722. Opposite the Treasury

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... of the Senate and Presbyterian pastor in Washington, had a prayer which ought to give us pause. He prayed: “Lord, help me to regulate my giving according to my income, Lest thou shouldst regulate my income according to my giving!” III. JESUS WAS THE PERFECT PERSON TO COMMENT ON THE WIDOW’S GIFT, WASN’T HE? He Himself was the greatest Giver of them all! The event which Mark describes in such graphic detail is one of the last in Jesus’ public ministry; only the Temple discourse in Chapter 13 ...

2723. On Being in the Wrong Place

Mark 15:21-32

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... hurt by life and puts a distance between himself and life. He is a travel writer who passes through the most beautiful and fascinating cities of the earth and who can think of nothing more exciting than packing the right clothes and toothbrush. He is the perfect example of an observer of life who chooses not to let himself get involved in any way. During Lent we sometimes talk about what we are going to “give up.” (I’ve given up rutabagas for Lent.) A better understanding of Lent means not giving up ...

2724. Called by Life ( I Am the Resurrection and the Life)

John 11:17-37

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... 55:8 we read, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways." There are times in our lives when our requests of God seem to be delayed as well. However, we must remember God is never early--never late--but always on perfect time. Jesus was certainly concerned for Mary, Martha and Lazarus, but he was setting the stage for an action that would far exceed anything they had expected. Jesus would use this Kodak moment to address the fundamental fear of humanity--the fear of death. It was ...

2725. The Lord's Prayer: A Surplus of Meaning

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... with you today is that The Lord''s Prayer is not really The Lord''s Prayer. It is the prayer that Jesus gave to his disciples to use as a model for their prayer life and spiritual edification. It is most often known as the Disciple''s Prayer, the Perfect Pattern Prayer, or the Model Prayer. It is a prayer that Jesus did not pray himself. The prayer calls for the forgiveness of sins and, of course, Jesus Christ was sinless. He was tempted to sin--he had the ability to sin--but he did not. Jesus also would ...

Showing results